GTP Cool Wall: Dodge Neon SRT-4

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Dodge Neon SRT-4

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    115
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TheBook

TheBook

Literary Member
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United States
Sturgis, MI
GTP_ty00123
2004-2005 Dodge Neon SRT-4

0505_dodge_neon_srt4_82.jpg


SPECIFICATIONS

Base Price $ 20,450
Engine Type turbocharged and intercooled dual overhead cam 16-valve inline 4-cylinder
Engine Size 2.4 liters / 148 cu. in.
Horsepower 230 @ 5300 rpm
Torque (lb-ft) 250 @ 2200-4400 rpm
Transmission 5-speed manual
Wheelbase / Length 105.0 in. / 174.4 in.
Curb Weight 2,900 lbs.
Pounds Per Horsepower 12.6
Fuel Capacity 12.5 gal.
Fuel Requirement unleaded premium gasoline: 91 octane recommended 87 octane acceptable
Tires P205/50 ZR17 BF Goodrich G-Force T/A KDW II
Brakes, front/rear vented disc / solid disc, antilock standard
Suspension, front/rear independent MacPherson strut / independent Chapman strut
Drivetrain front engine, front-wheel drive

PERFORMANCE
EPA Fuel Economy - miles per gallon city / highway / observed 22 / 30 / 19
0 to 60 mph 5.8 sec​
 
this car was cool when it was new. Then College Students started driving them, and now with teens, It's slipping past "meh" into the "uncool" slot.
 
Cool. I like eating cocky Subies and Mustangs. High power FWD always make me smile... 'cause it feels like such a thing shouldn't exist. It gets a little boring in the rain though.
 
Cool, but barely. Its like a renaissance of Chrysler from the late 80s, overcoming the sinking and increasingly idiotic ship that was Daimler-Chrysler. Now, if this was one of the Turbo Mopars from the late 80s, it would be Sub-Zero. Unfortunately, the people who usually ended up with these tended to be a different group than the ones who ended up with Shelby CSXs, and said group almost completely ruin the car.
 
a very complete car for what they charged you for it, very fast stock and got dang, the things you can do with one. And it's a Neon. Cool.
 
It's cool in principle. But it's also a Neon, which doesn't really help it's cause. And it may tend to fall into the catagory of "American ricers" along with the fourth gen V6 Mustang and Chevy Cavalier and Colbalt.

But for what it is, this is a cool car. But it has a bit more weighing it down. But it could be worse. So it gets a meh.
 
Friend has one, with a CAI and aftermarket tune, really felt the gains. I would bet its putting down somewhere around 250whp. Unfortunately he's selling it so it'll get trashed by some kid.
 
Its a Neon, which makes it seriously uncool, but thanks to the engine, it brings it back up to cool. No matter what else you do to it though, it will never be higher than uncool.

Uncool.
 
I've never seen one of these and felt a respect for what it can do. It just seems too bubbly and cute for me to appreciate its power. When calculating the MPG for this car they should include the gas spent by knobheads who pump the gas to hear their turbocharger. And probably don't know how it works.

Seriously uncool.
 
It's a relatively cool car, and a lot of performance for the price. Unfortunately though it's still a Neon and no matter how much stuff you add to the car you can't change that fact. Uncool
 
Seriously Uncool. Driven mostly by dbags, frat boys, and old guys who think they are awesome. Not to mention it's a Neon and that the owners get super pissed when you remind them of this. Oh and it came with awful tires on it too.

Also every spoiled little bugger who's mommy or daddy worked for Chrysler around here got one for their first car and promptly put it into a tree, a ditch or another car because they thought they could handle it....which they couldn't.

For the relatively small amount of people that owned them that weren't toolboxes and knew how to drive, they could do wonders on an autocross course barring it was an ACR version and had non-sucky tires.
 
astrosdude91
I'm sure yours was nice. And I'm sure there are plenty of exceptions to the rule. But the Neon SRT/4 is one of those American cars that tend to get riced out more than others.
Click to expand...

I'm gonna disagree as well. Regular neons are riced out everywhere by everyone. The SRT4 was rarely done poorly around here and I lived in chicago, I would know.
 
astrosdude91
I'm sure yours was nice. And I'm sure there are plenty of exceptions to the rule. But the Neon SRT/4 is one of those American cars that tend to get riced out more than others.
Click to expand...
Ricers don't tend to get their hands on actual performance cars nearly as much as they do on base models. There are plenty of reasons for this, but the end result is for every Civic Type R you see with a 6 foot spoiler and too much camber, you see 20 Civic DX models with the same thing. And strictly speaking, even normal Neons were rather resistant to ricing compared to most compacts.
 
Cano
a very complete car for what they charged you for it, very fast stock and got dang, the things you can do with one. And it's a Neon. Cool.
Click to expand...

I'll second this. In ACR form, it's just shy of sub-zero. Typical owners be damned.

[edit]

Other than the "typical owner" factor, I will just never understand the unexplained hatred for Neons. Nobody hates, say, a Focus or a Corolla with the automatic disdain and vitriol that Neons get.

Neons (particularly the first generation) are dirt cheap, zippy and willing to drive hard, highly reliable with even a modicum of maintenance, handle spectacularly for a FWD car, and kicked so much ass on the racetrack and autocross course that the SCCA had to fundamentally rewrite the rules of Showroom Stock club racing to make them non-competitive because all the other manufacturers bitched and moaned so much.

C'mon, they had to class the 165-hp Civic Si in with the 135-hp SOHC Neon, because the barely 150-hp DOHC Neon was taking the Civic's lunch money. AND they had to allow the Civic extra, non-stock parts to boot!
 
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Cool. Mostly only because the engine is good and I heard that regular Neon's are not that reliable.
 
...and they didn't have any problems that were different from other iron-block-aluminum-head small engines from any other manufacturer.
 
( Tip from the inside , from a friend who works at Chrysler.This is one of those "silent" dealer fixes issued by Chrysler Corporation )

The early Neons and PT Cruisers suffered badly with head gasket issues.The problem being that when the engine block came off the assembly line,the rear part of the deck got milled at angle,creating a gap on the back side of the engine block : leaving a small void that the head gasket could not seal.The after market head gaskets (Fel-Pro),compensates for this by a totally re-designed head gasket which somewhat fills the void,but the basic issue is still there with the block.In certain cases,engine blocks have been removed and replaced with an updated versions,while others were taken out,sent to a machine shop and milled properly.

(Note,this little "secret fix" cost Chrysler a lot of $$$)
 
Actually, the real fix is to use the Mopar multi-layered steel (MLS) headgasket that became a running change in November of 1998. On a head that has not been too badly eroded by chronically ignoring a leaking headgasket, a properly installed OEM MLS gasket is a permanent fix.

The problem is not that the block got milled at an angle - it is that one coolant passage was very close to the edge of the deck, and a standard compressed-felt gasket didn't have enough width at that point to resist the pressure. They typically failed to the outside of the block, manifesting as a slow oil leak down the back of the block. If you check the coolant to make sure it's not getting contaminated, and change the oil regularly, the Neon will run almost indefinitely with the head gasket blown in this manner. However, if you let it go too long (as in, several years), the head erodes around this area and you will have trouble getting the new gasket to seal.

But a Neon fixed properly in a reasonably timely manner with the revised MLS part will not have head gasket issues again. And this issue was corrected for the 1999 m/y and was NEVER an issue for the second-gen Neons at all.
 
astrosdude91
I'm sure yours was nice. And I'm sure there are plenty of exceptions to the rule. But the Neon SRT/4 is one of those American cars that tend to get riced out more than others.
Click to expand...

Actually, it was bone stock. :P

dave_sz
I'm gonna disagree as well. Regular neons are riced out everywhere by everyone. The SRT4 was rarely done poorly around here and I lived in chicago, I would know.
Click to expand...

Carbon hood and trunk, wing delete, side exit exhaust, suspension and a nice set of wheels really makes these things look awesome.
 
Duke
Actually, the real fix is to use the Mopar multi-layered steel (MLS) headgasket that became a running change in November of 1998. On a head that has not been too badly eroded by chronically ignoring a leaking headgasket, a properly installed OEM MLS gasket is a permanent fix.

The problem is not that the block got milled at an angle - it is that one coolant passage was very close to the edge of the deck, and a standard compressed-felt gasket didn't have enough width at that point to resist the pressure. They typically failed to the outside of the block, manifesting as a slow oil leak down the back of the block. If you check the coolant to make sure it's not getting contaminated, and change the oil regularly, the Neon will run almost indefinitely with the head gasket blown in this manner. However, if you let it go too long (as in, several years), the head erodes around this area and you will have trouble getting the new gasket to seal.

But a Neon fixed properly in a reasonably timely manner with the revised MLS part will not have head gasket issues again. And this issue was corrected for the 1999 m/y and was NEVER an issue for the second-gen Neons at all.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the additional information.👍

While part of this true Duke, I'l see if my friend can run me off a copy of the improper deck problem in which Chrysler distributed this information to their dealerships. ;)
 
Cool. Fast, cheap, makes a very good noise and isn't obtrusive. I looked for one (didn't find one) before I bought my SVTF. A fact that has been missing is Dodge underrated these, they were more like 250bhp factory. These go from being fast stock to being truely insane with just a few hundred $. I had a former co-worker that had one with 450whp and it was insane fast.

This is the sort of thing that GM, Ford and Chrysler should of been doing in the 90's and throughout the 00's. ANY I4 turbo that wears an American badge is cool with me. The interior is hideous + not well put together and thus the related Chrysler lack of build quality in this area prevents it from being Subzero.
 
Cool. So much potential in these cars that just a $1,000 in one will go a long way. There's also a lot in Dallas running 400whp & 2-3 boosted in the 500-600whp range.

Friend's Cobra putting down 479whp, got beat by one. Tells you just how fast these little buggers are.
 

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